Election Universe

7 facts about Polish Parliamentary elections

On October 25th, elections to both the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (Sejm) and the upper chamber (Senate) were held for the 2015-2019 period. 460 seats were contested for the Sejm and 100 for the Senate.

Over 30 million people were registered to vote, with a turnout of more than 15 million voters for a 50.92%; a number consistent with past elections in the European country and one of the lowest in the region.

Members of the Sejm are elected through open party list proportional representation via the D’hondt method in multi-seat constituencies. The threshold for single parties being 5% and 8% for coalitions. Meanwhile, senators are elected using a first-past-the-post voting in single member districts.

This was the first European election, since Norway in 1993, where two leading parties fielded a female candidate.

The election was won by the opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS) with 37.6%, which gives them an absolute majority of seats, followed by the incumbent Civic Platform (PO) with 24.1%. It’s the first time since the introduction of liberal democracy in the country that a party obtains absolute majority.

Beata Szydlo was designated Prime Minister. She is the third woman to hold the post in Poland and the second in the world to succeed another woman, incumbent PM, Ewa Kopacz.

Ewa Kopacz conceded after the exit polls were published. However, the official results were posted on October the 27th.